Russia continues evacuation from Lebanon
19/07/2006 16:00 MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian plane landed in a Syrian international airport Wednesday to pick up citizens of Russia and other CIS countries evacuated from Lebanon, emergency services said.
"The IL-76 [transport] plane landed at Latakia airport," an Emergency Situation Ministry spokesman said.
About 170 passengers will leave for Moscow onboard the plane, the spokesman said.
He added that a total of 270 people evacuated across the Syrian border from Lebanon, where fighting has now entered its second week, were currently at the airport and more than 1,000 were expected to arrive to Syria in the next few days.
He said a charter flight organized by national carrier Aeroflot was being considered to pick up another 300 people from Latakia.
A Russian diplomat in Beirut said the embassy was also considering an evacuation operation by sea and that the issue was being coordinated with Greece, whose ships could pick up Russians at Beirut's port.
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